Metamaterial superstrate performs unique electromagnetic properties which are used in antenna design. In this article, a novel design of stacked with parasitic element multilayer rectangular microstrip patch antenna using single layer single turn helical resonator based on metamaterial superstrate is presented. The return loss, smith chart, impedance, radiation pattern, gain, VSWR, and
... [Show full abstract] directivity of such an antenna are studied. The possibility of increasing bandwidth, gain and directivity of the printed patch antenna using metamaterial superstrate is examined and verified with the realized antenna. The analysis of reduction in the size of helical resonator is given and it is found that maximum reduction in size is obtained at a metallic fill ratio of 0.2. The stacked antenna is realized and successfully tested and verified measured results with the simulated results. Investigation is performed related to gain enhance using metamaterial. Percentage bandwidth of antenna is approximately 64.84% with constant gain in specified bandwidth with good cross-polarization. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 56:1978–1982, 2014